


Like It Never Happened

by Fodforever



Series: What If's for 1796 Broadway... (go read it!) [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Hurt Tony, Inspired by 1796 Broadway, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-25
Updated: 2013-11-27
Packaged: 2018-01-02 15:16:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1058322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fodforever/pseuds/Fodforever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This series is a set of stories based on the AMAZING epistolary fic “1796 Broadway,” where ‘Captain America respectfully requests that all complaints be addressed to him in writing.’ I really admire what the authors are doing, and the slow build they are creating is so so lovely… that said, my brain won’t shut up after each post with “what now???” so this is an answer to that. </p><p>This part is set post Chapter 119: Black Out All of Manhattan, following Tony's realization that Steve has been keeping the fact that he is dating Becky a secret.</p><p>Steve goes after him, and gets some advice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In a Couple Weeks It'll Be...

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [1796 Broadway](https://archiveofourown.org/works/972937) by [rainproof](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainproof/pseuds/rainproof), [teaberryblue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/teaberryblue/pseuds/teaberryblue). 



> Set post Chapter 119: Black Out All of Manhattan, from “1796 Broadway.” Iron Man and Captain America were called in from Japan to deal with a security breach involving the arc reactor. Iron Man flew in the suit; while Captain America took SHIELD transport and had to watch from afar via live video feed.
> 
> During the battle Clint reveals over the coms that Cap is dating Becky, which Tony didn’t know, and he burns his hand whilst distracted. T_T
> 
> Below are Tony and Steve’s reactions.

Steve can’t focus the entire flight home.

Everything has become so… he knows he should have found some way to tell Tony sooner. He knows he should have found some way to be better.

They said the serum made him perfect. They didn’t say that it wouldn’t matter how perfect he was when everything else is so… He can’t seem to get it right. No matter what he does he can’t seem to do this…

And now Tony is hurt and they’re saying he refused to see Medical and Becky has already text him about what his plans are for dinner and he feels sick even though that’s physiologically impossible now.

“JARVIS, where is Tony?”

“Sir is in the lab with Dr. Banner." There is a brief pause before the AI continues "I have been contacted by Director Fury and Agent Romanov requesting that you return to SHEILD to complete your debriefing…” there’s a very slight upturn in tone at the end, as if JARVIS is asking a question.

Probably because he can access SHEILD’s records and see that Steve has never been late for a debrief, let alone left in the middle of one.

“Tell them… tell them I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Steve sighs and rubs his face quickly with his still-gloved hands before turning toward the elevators.

“I have relayed your message, Captain.”

“Thanks JARVIS. Please take me down to Bruce’s lab.”

 

* * *

 

So, Cap has a girlfriend. Who wears earrings. This is what Tony knows about her.

Also, her name is Becky. _Becky_.

His hand continues to sting as Bruce brushes it with some kind of clear liquid. Natasha et. al. wanted some SHIELD medical prick to look at it, but it’s his hand, and his suit (now removed thanks to J’s soft touch) and his fucking arc reactor, so if they want more than cool water and a rag anywhere _near_ his hand it’s going to be Bruce.

They’re in Bruce’s lab, and he is sitting on the stools they always sit on. When he comes down here for any extended amount of time it’s because Bruce is actually taking a break and they can joke around, or he’s working on something so complicated they can really get down to it, just like he’d hoped they would when they first met on the helicarrier… it’s comforting.

As comforting as anything can feel when someone is poking at what is your hand, but what actually looks more like a piece of pepperoni pizza.

 _Becky and Steve_. Christ, doesn’t that just…

His train of thought is broken as the hiss of the lab doors sounds. He should have known Steve would come busting into the lab. He enters, well, like a man on a mission. He hasn’t even bothered to change out of his uniform.

“You can’t just refuse medical care Tony!” Steve starts before he’s even made it to their make-shift healing station.

“Does this look like refusing? Bruce, am I refusing?” Tony looks at Bruce, and only at Bruce. Bruce quickly glances up from his work on Tony’s hand to meet his eyes before reaching for a jar of green goo that he got earlier, along with more gauze pads.

Bruce begins to delicately apply the goo with a gauze swab clamped into forceps before saying: “I’ve actually probably seen as many burns as most medics Cap, and I’ve developed a super concentrated aloe-based tincture that should speed his healing time.”

Steve is about to protest further, but Tony interrupts. He can’t really hear what Steve has to say right now. He can’t hear Steve try to explain why he didn’t tell him sooner. He is liable to say something really scathing… or really pathetic if he has to talk to Steve about... he is not fucking dealing with this right now.

“See Cap? Totally under control! In a couple weeks it’ll be like it never happened at all.” He looks at his hand, and feels his eyes start to prick. Fuck.

Bruce is wrapping the entire hand in gauze now, and with a final snip it’s covered. Tony gets up and breezes by Steve, who still hasn’t said anything. Tony hasn’t looked him in the eye and doesn’t plan to.

Steve, well Cap. Cap has someone. Someone named Becky who wears earrings… not goo and gauze and metal and pain and fuckery like a fucking cloak. Good.

Good.

What they wrote about in Japan, well… He looks down at his hand, a soothing cooling sensation dulling the underlying throb of pain.

 

… in a couple weeks it’ll be like it never happened at all.

* * *

 

Tony doesn’t look at him. He just stares through his hand like it isn’t even there.

“See Cap? Totally under control! In a couple weeks it’ll be like it never happened at all.” His voice is tight, and falsely bright, and it sounds just like it did the first time Steve talked to him after his break up with Pepper.

He knows he should tell Tony to see a doctor anyway. Bruce is a genius, but he isn’t actually a medical doctor. He tries to get the words out but his whole chest has gone tight. Tighter than it was during any of his old asthmatic episodes.

Bruce is finishing now. He needs to tell Tony… he has to say something.

But he’s rooted to the spot. His throat is closing. He can’t move. It’s like he’s drowning in that icy water all over again and Tony is walking by him, not looking at him. He wants to call out to him. Reach out.

But he’s frozen.


	2. Honesty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This series is a set of stories based on the AMAZING epistolary fic “1796 Broadway,” where ‘Captain America respectfully requests that all complaints be addressed to him in writing.’ I really admire what the authors are doing, and the slow build they are creating is so so lovely… that said, my brain won’t shut up after each post with “what now???” so this is an answer to that.
> 
> Each individual piece I write will have the explanation above, and a summary of what entry from “1796 Broadway” it is based on in the Notes section. I highly recommend you read “1796 Broadway,” even if epistolary isn’t something you usually go for (and also it will make what I write make much more sense, haha)!
> 
> This part is set post Chapter 119: Black Out All of Manhattan.
> 
> I've added a chapter, because apparently I can't stop... >_>

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set post Chapter 119: Black Out All of Manhattan, from “1796 Broadway.” Iron Man and Captain America were called in from Japan to deal with a security breach involving the arc reactor. Iron Man flew in the suit; while Captain America took SHIELD transport and had to watch from afar via live video feed.
> 
> During the battle Clint reveals over the coms that Cap is dating Becky, which Tony didn’t know, and he burns his hand whilst distracted. T_T
> 
> Below is a conversation between Steve and Bruce after Tony storms out.

Bruce occupies himself with gathering up soiled gauze and dressings, and sterilizing his equipment. Steve doesn’t say anything, but he doesn’t leave either. He focuses on cleaning, silently hoping that Steve will follow Tony’s lead and exit the lab. It’s not that he isn’t sympathetic to the Captain’s situation… which he really knows more about than he should thanks to Nat.

It’s just not his business.

But he finishes cleaning up, and Steve’s still standing there, staring at the stool Tony vacated.

Bruce can handle dealing with damaged people. He’s worked with lepers for god’s sake… but he really isn’t -- he just doesn’t really know what to say here.

He’d like to think he knows Steve a little better than he did before they were quarantined together. As hard as it is to believe, Steve really is as earnest as he seems, and based on Tony’s response to the news about Becky, Steve didn’t tell Tony about her.

Which is really… well it indicates that Steve is very… confused.

Steve sighs and comes over to where Bruce is meaninglessly arranging plant protein slides, resting his elbows on the blank stainless steel counter about a foot away. Alright, it looks like this is happening… at least he will probably have the jump on Natasha in terms of intell on the situation (which rarely happens).

“Could I ask you something, Bruce?”

Bruce takes his glasses off and cleans them to buy him one last minute of not getting tangled up in this mess.

“Of course you can” he says and fixes Steve with his most benign smile.

Maybe he just wants to ask about how Bruce’s hair gets such amazing curl…

“It’s about Tony.”

Sigh.

“I know you two are close… I mean, he went to you for his hand, and you guys have probably spent the most time together out of everyone one the team…”

“I don’t know Steve, you and Tony were getting pretty close before Tony left for Japan.” Bruce doesn’t mean it as a barb, but it’s true. Hours in the lab don’t really make someone your soul mate (despite Tony’s declarations otherwise), and even if Nat hadn’t told him about their letters, it was getting pretty obvious.

Steve blushes.

“I – yeah, that’s actually part of what I wanted your advice about. You see, I didn’t exactly tell Tony about Becky. Well, okay, I just didn’t. And now he’s found out through Clint and I think I may have really messed things up.”

Bruce must have a deer in the headlights expression, because Steve continues: “Not that I expect you to have any answers or anything… I mean I haven’t even really explained yet… I just. I really need some advice here. I have no idea what I’m doing and I’ve handled this whole thing so terribly.”

Steve rubs the back of his neck and looks like he’s about to sink into the lab’s floor from embarrassment.

“Wow, I’m so sorry, I haven’t even told you what’s going on. This was a bad idea… I’m sorry; I’ve got to get back to my debriefing.”

Bruce’s eyebrows raise a fraction. Steve rushed over here before completing his debriefing?

Bruce thinks back to the quarantine, and how Steve spent most of the time anxiously checking his Stark pad. And his grin when it would chime indicating he got a letter. And how he would draw Tony constantly, making a show of having Bruce see every drawing he did of something that was _not_ Tony to make it seem like he wasn’t.

And how he flew to Japan to support Tony when every other person on the planet thought Tony was being an irresponsible ass (himself included).

 “Steve, wait…”

He remembers what he wrote when he first found out they were writing, that Steve should probably find someone a little more ‘age-appropriate’… someone who ‘hasn’t slept with half of Manhattan.’

But that was before he saw Steve like this.

Damn it, Nat’s going to be annoyed.

* * *

 

 

Steve turns, ready to hear whatever Bruce has to say.

“My first impulse is to tell you that you seem to really care about Becky, and that whatever is going on with Tony, it’s not really worth jeopardizing what you have.”

Steve’s face crumples, and he nods reluctantly. Bruce is right, he really should be thinking about Becky right now too…

“But,” Bruce continues, “I should also tell you that it seems to me from your actions that you probably don't really agree with that statement.”

Steve's head jolts up, and he starts to protest "I'm not, that's not--" Bruce interrupts, cutting to the heart of it: “Why didn’t you tell Tony about Becky, Steve?”

He goes on before Steve can answer. “Really think about it, because you _must_ know that saying ‘there wasn’t a good time’ or anything of that sort doesn’t hold water.”

Steve stays quiet for several minutes and walks back to sit down in Tony’s stool.

Bruce is about to prompt him again when he breaks his silence: “I suppose… I suppose I didn’t want to risk that things with Tony would change. I wanted to keep… I wanted to keep him.” Steve shrugs sort of helplessly, not sure if that makes any sense to Bruce, given how little he’s explained things (though Bruce is certainly asking some pointed questions, so maybe his feelings for Tony have only been unclear to himself?).

Instead of responding to Steve’s confession Bruce asks another question. “Do you know the thing Tony talks about the most when we’re working in the labs, apart from actual science?”

Steve shakes his head.

 

“Tony never stops talking about you, Steve.”

Steve feels hot all over, and so pleased and happy that for a moment he forgets he’s in utter turmoil. He thought Tony liked him, of course, they’re friends… he just had no idea the level of… He _thinks_ he had no idea.

“I know you asked for advice Steve, and I’m about to give you some, but it’s not an answer.”

Steve nods. Whatever Bruce says, he will take to heart. Bruce is this calming force (which Steve supposes is ironic). He trusts him.

“You need to be completely honest. You need to be honest with Becky,” Steve winces, he really should be more concerned about Becky; “You need to be honest with Tony, and most of all you need to take a hard look at where you are and be honest with yourself.”

Honesty. Well doesn’t that just sound so simple?

“I know it’s not that simple” says Bruce. Steve quirks a smile and wonders if maybe mind-reading is a side effect of being a super genius. “but being honest doesn’t mean you have to have the answers. Tell them how you feel, even if what you feel is confused. Give them time to be honest in turn with you. You’re a good guy, Steve, and no one who really knows you will just walk away because things have become… complicated.”

Remarkably, Steve feels better. Until now he hasn’t handled things well, but he can move forward and do better.

“You ever consider becoming a psychologist, doc?” Steve teases, standing up.

“Well, I actually just got it on good authority from Tony Stark himself that ‘It’s doesn’t matter two fucks what kind of doctor I am, I’m smart enough to switch when needed.’” Bruce rolls his eyes, but affectionately.

 

Steve smiles, and thanks Bruce again before rushing out the door. He’s got a meeting to get to, and a couple of conversations to figure out.

* * *

 

 

Bruce settles back onto a stool and wonders if he did the right thing. Steve is obviously completely gone for Tony. And he knows he has a lecture coming from Nat about how he’s messing with Steve’s perfectly perfect budding relationship with Becky. That Stark is an unknown quantity that may be doing better on the team, but who is a disaster when it comes to his personal life.

He knows Nat would have reported a “Tony Stark – No, not recommended” for Steve.

But he wonders if she has seen enough of this latest iteration of Steve. And even if Steve wasn’t so obviously taken with Tony, Bruce can’t help but feel that Tony deserves more credit than Natasha is willing to give.

Yes, he is capable of going off the rails (quite literally as he just did in Japan). And he can be self-centered and irresponsible…

But he also talked them through saving the better part of Manhattan today. And…

And Bruce knows that if in some weird alternate universe if Nat came to Tony asking if _Bruce_ was a good idea, in every single infinite reality, Tony’s answer would be an immediate yes. Tony irrevocably put his trust in him the first time they met. Gave him a home, and a friend, and asked for nothing.

So maybe this is something he can give Tony; maybe right now Steve needs to hear that Tony is a ‘Yes.’


End file.
